Three and easy for Thomas Frank? Well, not quite – this is Tottenham, after all. Instead it was Andoni Iraola’s outstanding Bournemouth who ended his 100% start thanks to Evanilson’s early strike as familiar failings returned to haunt Spurs.
Had things turned out differently this summer, Iraola could easily have found himself in the home dugout having been coveted by Tottenham before they eventually settled on Frank. But after Spurs won Frank’s first two Premier League matches since he succeeded Ange Postecoglou, their shortcomings were exposed by the Spaniard’s high press and only Bournemouth’s profligacy prevented their victory being even more convincing as Tottenham’s players left the pitch to a smattering of boos.
Xavi Simons, the new £51.8m signing from RB Leipzig, was paraded on the pitch beforehand and Frank will be desperate to integrate him as quickly as possible after it took until the 69th minute for his team to register a shot on target.
“Bournemouth played to their strengths and we didn’t handle it well enough,” said Frank. “I’d prefer [the supporters] not to boo but it was not a good performance and they have high standards.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he had decided against changing a winning formula and selected the same side that executed his gameplan to perfection against Manchester City last week, even if Dominic Solanke was ruled out with an ankle injury that the Spurs manager hopes will not keep him out beyond the international break. But he will be concerned by how easily the pedestrian midfield trio of João Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Sarr were outclassed by Bournemouth’s technical superiority and it wasn’t until Frank introduced Lucas Bergvall in the second half that they at least looked more threatening.
